 Well, basketball season is right around the corner and for the Bemidji girls team, they are entering year two under head coach Steve Schreiber. With some youth experience and a deep bench, the Jax are looking to build off a 14 win 2016. Ask head coach Steve Schreiber and he'll tell you the comfort level heading into year two is a lot higher. Because I had a full summer with him this year, I know a lot more of what our strengths and weaknesses are and that I can tailor my offense and tailor my defense a lot more toward our strengths and we can work on our weaknesses. Gone is some leadership and experience from last year but back, a couple of key pieces ready to get up and down the court. We are really athletic as in running the floor, playing hardcore in-your-face defense, running the press, just running the floor type of thing. One of the key players returning hoping to give a boost senior guard Kennedy Mills who missed all of 2016 with her second-torn ACF. It's hard last year sitting out especially with the new coach. I really felt like he was a good opportunity to go somewhere but this year I think that it's going to be a good year for us too and just really push hard throughout the season. One of the strengths, the depth of this roster, making practices intense, hoping to wear teams down. It takes a lot of pressure off of our backs because we know we don't play good. We have someone else on the bench coming in for us that will step it up and that's going to happen some days. We're going to have bad days so it feels good knowing that we have other girls out there. And after an early post-season exit last year this season the goal and expectations are a step higher. The biggest thing is that we're a better team, we're a closer knit team by the end of the year and if we do that we're going to be tough. Last year our goal was to win our first section game and that actually did happen and so this year our goal is definitely section finals and we're looking at state this year. Just five days away from the Lumberjack season opener they will host Thief River Falls Tuesday night at 7.30. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.